Sunday, July 4, 2010

Infamous-Suzanne Brockmann

Infamous
Suzanne Brockmann
Ballantine, Jul 27 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780345521200

In 2010 history professor Alison Carter is the expert on the feud between legendary Marshal Silas Quinn and notorious outlaw James "Kid" Gallagher of the brutal Kelly Gang; the Kid kidnapped and murdered the lawman’s wife, Melody. In 1898 in the Red Rock Saloon in Jubilation, Arizona Quinn and the Kelly Gang faced off. Alison knows she has come a long way from growing up the daughter of an alcoholic as now she is the consultant to the Hollywood film Quinn.

Having served in the Bush senior’s Gulf War, A. J. Gallagher came home suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. For several years he depended on alcohol to numb the ghosts of war. Sober, he wants to exorcize the ghost of his great-grandfather The Kid. However, the Kid refuses to go to hell; instead demanding his descendent clear his name as he insists the legend is false since he and his beloved Melody ran away to Alaska to escape from abusive Quinn. A.J. confronts Alison, but though his evidence is the word of mouth from a spirit, the veteran and the professor are attracted to each other. When deadly felons go after his woman, A.J. vows to keep her safe.

This is a great paranormal romance mindful of Who Shot Liberty Valance and Robert Wuhl’s presentation in Assume the Position on “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Fast-paced, the story line is at its best when the focus is on the Kid challenging A.J. to sell the facts to the so called expert while A.J. wants to sell himself to his beloved expert. When the plot takes a suspense spin, it loses some of the charm and underlying insight that the winners write the history to make them heroes and their adversaries’ villains.

Harriet Klausner

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